Top StoryWorld

US woman pleads guilty to leading all-female Islamic State battalion

all-female

Allison Fluke-Ekren, an American woman from Kansas who moved to Egypt where she led an all-female Islamic State battalion trained for suicide missions in Syria, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization. She trained children how to use assault rifles, and one of her children about age 6 or 7 was pictured in her home holding a machine gun. The Associated Press has the story:

Allison Fluke-Ekren pleads guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — An American woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization, stemming from her leadership of an all-female battalion of Islamic State militants in Syria.

Allison Fluke-Ekren entered the plea in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Fluke-Ekren, who once lived in Kansas, was brought to the U.S. in January to face a criminal charge of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. She moved to Egypt in 2008 and starting in late 2016, according to prosecutors, she led an all-female Islamic State unit in the Syrian city of Raqqa that was trained in the use of AK-47 rifles, grenades and suicide belts.

A detention memo filed by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh says she trained children how to use assault rifles and at least one witness saw one of her children — approximately 6 or 7 years old — holding a machine gun in the family’s home in Syria.

Prosecutors have also said Fluke-Ekren wanted to recruit operatives to attack a college campus in the U.S. and discussed a terrorist attack on a shopping mall. She told one witness that “she considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources,” according to an FBI affidavit.

A criminal complaint against Fluke-Ekren was filed under seal in 2019 but not made public until she was brought back to the U.S. to face charges.

By ERIC TUCKER

Read more international news

Previous Article
Russia announces gains in the Donbas
Next Article
Olympics’ figure skating minimum age increases from 15 to 17

How useful was this article?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this article.

Latest News

Menu